Slide hawaiian guitar



Oct. 18, 1960 G. W. TOOP SLIDE HAWAIIAN GUITAR Filed Dec. 16, 1957 United States Patent SLIDE HAWAIIAN GUITAR Gerald W. Toop, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Royal School of Mines, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London SW. 7, England) Filed Dec. 16, 1957, Ser. No. 703,181

2 Claims. (Cl. 84-267) This invention relates to stringed musical instruments and is particularly applicable to stringed musical instruments of the electric Hawaiian guitar or steel guitar type.

The object of the invention is to provide an Hawaiian guitar with a broader range of chord selection than is attainable with the conventionally designed Hawaiian guitar. The inventor acknowledges prior art that has achieved the same object by altering the tension or playing length of certain strings of the instrument or by using a multiple-neck instrument. However, multiple-neck instruments are costly and even the most successful of the other prior methods are complex mechanically. It is evident that more simplicity in this field is definitely desirable.

This invention provides more playing flexibility in a very simple and practical manner and embodies a basic principle of chord selection. This single-neck Hawaiian guitar consists of two or more longitudinal sections each of which are strung with one or more strings and are longitudinally movable relative to one another so that chord positions on the strings may be oriented or aligned into straight-bar, slant-bar or tip-bar positions by the player. Relative motion of the sections is achieved with the players knees to each of which one or more of the sections is coupled when the player is seated in the conventional playing position.

Specifically, an assembly of three such longitudinal sections and six strings is particularly advantageous when the instrument is tuned E major. In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the instrument.

Figure 2 is a view of the bottom of the instrument.

The guitar illustrated consists of three longitudinal sections. Longitudinal portions 9, 10, 11 of the fretted fingerboard 12 are fixed to sections 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Section 1 is strung with the first or high treble string 13 and section 2 is strung with the fourth 14, fifth 15, and sixth 16, strings. The third section 3 is strung with the second 17 and third 18, strings and is mounted between the other two sections. The strings are tuned E major. The magnetic pickup 19 is fixed only to section 3. Portions 20, 21 and 22 of the bridge are fixed to sections 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The nut 23 and tail piece 24 both consist of three parts, each attached to the appropriate longitudinal section.

Three plates attached to the underside of the instrument are used as coupling members and guides. Two of the plates 4 and are fixed to the underside ends of sections 1 and 2 and the assembly forms a two-member unit. A strap 6 is attached to the underside of the twomember unit together with plate 4. The third plate 8, together with strap 7, is fixed to the under middle of Patented Oct. 18, 1960 ICC the central slide section 3 and permits only longitudinal motion of the slide.

The instrument is held across the knees of the seated player and the two-member unit is strapped to the right knee of the player with strap 6 and the slide section is strapped to the left knee With strap 7.

With motion of the slide, full 7th and minor chords are readily obtainable in all positions. Moving the slide three frets down relative to the fret being played on the two-member unit provides a six-string straight-bar 7th chord with respect to the fingerboard on the two-member unit. This is to say, for example, if the slide is moved down so that the eighth fret on the slide coincides with the fifth fret being played on the two-member unit, a full 7th chord is provided on the line of coincidence that is named with respect to the fingerboard on the two-member unit. In a like manner, moving the slide two frets down to the playing position produces a five string (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th) straight-bar 7th chord with respect to the fingerboard on the slide. Similarly, moving the slide one fret down to the playing position provides a five-string (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th) straight-bar minor chord which takes the letter name of the chord five frets higher on the two-member unit than the position being played. Now, with the slide moved one fret up to the playing position, a five string (1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th) straight-bar minor chord is obtained and this minor is named with respect to the fret being played on the two-member unit.

The foregoing disclosure exhibits the main advantage of the slide applicable to the Hawaiian guitar tuned E major. However, a wider choice of chords and chord variations is yet attainable when slant-bar and tip-bar positions are considered together with the sliding-string principle.

Chord changes can be achieved while the instrument is being played and the tonal effects produced are novel and varied. Too, it is an interesting feature of the instru ment that no matter what position the slide assumes with respect to the two-member unit, the open strings always retain the original tuning. This is an advantage in that no chord change is necessary to obtain the basic chord of the open strings.

What is claimed is:

1. In a musical string instrument having a plurality of strings tensioned thereon, means for selectively moving the playing lengths of some of said strings relative to and parallel to the playing lengths of other of said strings, comprising a plurality of slidably mounted longitudinal sections each of which is strung with one or more of said strings, plate means rigidly coupling some of said sections and operably guiding other of said sections and strap means attached to said plates to actuate said slidable sections.

2. In a musical string instrument consisting of a plurality of slidable longitudinal sections with a plurality of strings stretched longitudinally along said sections, plate means rigidly coupling some of said sections and operably guiding other of said sections and strap means attached to said plates whereby some of said longitudinal sections are moved relative to and parallel to other of said longitudinal sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,261,357 Fuller Nov. 4, 1941 2,270,612 Williams Jan. 20, 1942 2,574,881 McBride Nov. 13, 1951 

